The Love Letter
by Zepphyra.Snow.Storm
Summary: Things happen at parties. But sometimes, these things can have consequences that last a lifetime. Rated M for various thing that you will be warned about in the beginning of each chapter. Main character death. THERE ARE NO REAL PAIRINGS THIS IS NOT A ROMANCE IT'S A TRAGEDY SO NO TROLLING. :D
1. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto**_

_**Disclaimer 2: "The Love Letter" is a song by Blaqk Audio. Listen to it or look up the lyrics before you read. Or not.**_

**Okay, so this fic is... darker, than some of the ones I've written. Maybe most of them have some semblance of darkness though... But this one is just soo angst ridden. It is all written out in my notebook, like the entire thing I mean (which isn't too much, I don't think) so I just have to type up and edit the chapters. Keep in mind though that this is a side project and not my priority. Also, I'm trying out another writing style here, so go easy with the reviews, ne?**

**Warning: substance abuse and sex (not lemon)**

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******THIS IS NOT A LESBIAN FIC. AS I SAID IN THE SUMMARY, THERE ARE NO PAIRINGS IN THIS FIC. THE FILTER SYSTEM IS NOT TO BE USED TO FILTER WHAT PAIRING YOU WANT, BUT WHAT CHARACTERS YOU WISH TO READ ABOUT. SO ENOUGH WITH THE "YOU'RE TROLLING" OR "THIS SHAMES THE SAKUHINA FANDOM!" SHIT. YOU DON'T LIKE IT, YOU CAN LEAVE NOW. THERE ARE PLENTY OF FICS OUT THERE LIKE THIS WITH NO PAIRINGS. SO DON'T COMPLAIN TO ABOUT MY FIC.**

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******SPOILERALERTSPOILERALERTSPOILERALERTSPOILERALERT**

******Look, this is AU. I'm the author, and just because Neji died in the manga doesn't mean I can't make a fic where he's alive - especially if it's AU. So enough of the rude comments already. If you don't like any of this, then LEAVE NOW instead of posting a rude comment!**

******OKAY YOU CAN KEEP READING! :D**

******POV and tense switches in later chapters.**

**Enjoy!~ **

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I set the shot glass down on the table. It burns in my throat and sets heavily in my stomach. I should've eaten something before I came here.

The man of the hour is already long gone—in my mind, at least—and he is being carried on his back across rows of writhing people. There is no telling where one person starts and another ends.

A clinking noise causes me to jump slightly. My shot glass has been refilled. I down it, cringing. But somehow, it has less bite than before.

"Hinata! What are you doing moping over here?"

I glance over at the lanky woman yelling into my ear. When exactly had Tenten gotten over here?

Shrugging, I yell back, "Nothing… Just…"

"Drinking?"

Ugh. Another one. Sakura is here now, too. I put on a smile for them because it's what they expect.

"I guess." I laugh, even though they can't hear it over the din of the music. The visible action is enough.

I am still looking out over the dance floor when Ino finally joins us. The girls are ordering drinks. I throw back another shot of vodka. I can barely feel it anymore.

Then I see him.

Naruto.

Those bright, laughing blue eyes, that tanned skin, that shaggy blonde hair that seems to go every direction but down. I would be happy just observing him here. Observing him among the throbbing shadows of the dance floor; such a bright light, like the sun. He is blinding. He is everything I wish I could be. Those traits are numberless. And there is no way I would ever be good enough.

Nonetheless… I… love him.

"Kiba sure knows how to throw a party!" Ino exclaims.

I refrain from rolling my eyes. That blonde certainly doesn't have to struggle to be heard.

"Hey, Hinata, are you that drunk or are you just out of it?" Sakura pokes my cheek gently.

I stick my tongue out at her in a playful gesture. "I'm fine!"

Lies.

"Well, come on, then!" she says, tugging my arm a bit to get me up. "Let's get out there!"

I don't even realize, but soon I am swaying and convulsing and grinding with the rest of them. I feel different partners come and go, but I do not look at any of them. I don't care, really. I feel the beat throbbing in my blood, shaking up my bones. I close my eyes and it is the music that matters. Moving to the music.

I feel hands on my shoulders, stilling me. Slightly irritated, I open my eyes to stare into gentle, friendly blue. I gasp.

"Hinata." He says my name gently, almost carefully.

I looks away, unable to hold his strong gaze.

"N-Naruto…?"

"Dance with me?" he asks, and I hear the smile in his voice.

So I dance. I can't help myself. I want to stop. I want to run away. But it must be the drinks. It's got to be the alcohol.

Yes. That's it, it's the alcohol—for the both of us.

"Hinata." He whispers in my ear. I shudder at the sensation of it. "I never noticed before… I never noticed before…"

"What is it?" he has been drinking, too. I smell it on his breath.

He runs a hesitant hand down my long, black hair. I know that it is soft and shiny. I really hope that he thinks it's pretty. Suddenly, I'm nervous.

"You're so beautiful." He says, with amazed eyes. I can barely hear him over the dance floor.

I feel the heat creep up my neck and into my cheeks. I know I am blushing, and this only makes my face warmer.

Naruto's tan, calloused hand brushes over my cheek as we dance. I don't know what to do. My heart—my heart is throbbing so hard and loud I am sure he can hear it, even over all of this noise. I don't know what to do. He takes my hands in his. It's so sudden. I can't believe it. His lips are on my own, and I don't know—I cannot resist him. I haven't the will now the power. I'm still not sure if I'm kissing him back or not. I don't know what I am doing at all. I feel… _cloudy_. Everything but _this _is vague and far off. I am here, but that is all that I am sure if anymore. Perhaps this is a dream.

It hurts. My stomach hurts, and I clutch the fabric of Naruto's (that is still Naruto, right?) shirt tightly. Desperately. It's hot. Too hot. The friction I'm feeling all around me doesn't help. I'm squeezing through tight places, between moving bodies, and a hand tightly grasps mine.

For a moment, I meet wild dark eyes and I know he—_Kiba_—is angry. I shiver and turn away. Something is nagging at the back of my mind, but I can't place it, now do I want to.

Suddenly there is nothing to restrict movement around me but that one hand holding mine. I stumble, feeling lighter than air, freer than wind. A soft, warm chuckle ghosts past my ear, and I smile.

"Let's go." He says eagerly.

The loud sound of tramping up hollow stairs. Up, up, and I'm dizzy. It's so warm, and my stomach hurts. My body melts desperately into his, but still I am pulled forward, forward. It is hot. Now it is dark, and there is a soft _–bang– _and when I jump, Naruto laughs.

Everything blurs. The soft cool sheets feel so good and I just want to sleep. I sink into the soft nothingness. It is swallowing me up.

But I am hot. I am in too much pain. Everything blurs. A soft woosh of cool air envelopes my body, and I feel a hand slowly, slowly dragging me up and out of the nothingness. I shiver, but now I am warm again. I shiver, but now I do not know why. I think I am crying. It hurts—I think. But I don't know anymore. No. I am not in pain. I could never have been in pain. I must be dead, I must be! This feeling could only come from heaven. It cannot end. I won't let it. I won't let it end. Blue eyes. Tanned skin. Blonde hair.

"… Love you…"

I am falling.

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**I welcome reviews and constructive criticism, but mostly what I've been getting for the past 3 days could pass as harassment. If you don't like what you see, all you have to do is leave. No need for any rude comments. Just leave.**

**I reply to each (deserving) comment with each new chapter, and I delete trolling anonymous comments. I report comments that aren't anonymous. When this fic is complete I will respond to your review by PM, just as a courtesy to thank you for reviewing.**

**Be polite okay?**


	2. Chapter 2

_**Disclaimer is in Chapter 1**_

**Second chapter is out because I got five comments! Yay! But I'm not doing that again for this one, just because I want to start cranking out these chapters.**

**Unfortunately, I'm going to be getting my wisdom teeth removed on April 17th, so I'm not going to be able to upload any chapters of this until I'm off the pain medication. I can't work on any of my fics, for that matter. (Better finish writing the next chapter to "Rules of the Game" tonight, then :P)**

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_Guest: _I'm glad you think I'm a good writer :) That means a lot. And here's what happens next! Lol uneventful in my opinion, but the next chapter's better, I promise!This is worth reading if you're going to see this fic through to the end.

_25BAM50: _I'm glad you like this so much. I can't read SasuSaku either, and although I wouldn't call this NaruHina, I happen to like that pairing :P Oh well. To each their own, yes? And it's irrelevant here cuz, like I said, I can't consider this NaruHina :P

_Guest: _Thank you :) I have everything written, it just needs typed and edited. So I will definitely continue this, and will post everything.

_I'm Not A Princess: _I totally PMd this person. lol 2nd comment I got about not liking NaruHina. Geez, there is some hate here! Kidding! Both comments were super polite! And like I said, it's not really NaruHina. It's just a dark little idea that came into my mind, and this fic is the spawn. The spawn is not NaruHina. :P

_AnonPanda (Guest): _Yay! Thanks for reviewing! I hope you can appreciate this chapter too, even though it may seem like a filler. But it's really not... Thanks for reviewing this when you had a headache! I hope you feel better ACTUALLY I can ask if you feel better cuz Skype says you're on Facebook right now! :D

_Guest__: _WHEEWW. Talk about RUDE. Okay. So. Let me cleat a couple things up for you guys. This isn't Tumblr, nor am I placing my fics in any communities. So no need to say I'm "disrespecting the fandom". There is no fandom here as far as I am concerned. You want a fandom, look for it somewhere else. You're not gonna ruin my writing just because of your stupid little issues over your "fandom". Oh... And guess what? Sorry, but those "character tags" you mentioned are NOT for pairings. They are for the main characters of the fic/story. There are NO pairings in this fic. I am not being "crafty" in any way, shape or form. You, my reviewer, are being downright disrespectful to me. Why don't you sign in when you give me such a disrespectful review?

gbb: This is not a lesbian fic... I was pretty sure I made that clear in the beginning, especially in the summary when I said there are NO pairings... I just felt that Sakura and Hinata are two of the main characters in this fic. Just because you pick characters in the filter, does not mean that they have to be in a romantic or sexual relationship with each other. The author of the fic gets to decide what kind of relationship, if any, they have with each other. Also, I'm not trying to be rude, but _please_ read what I have written, because I specified that there were no relationships, so if you had read that you would have known... Again, not trying to be rude.

**Enjoy!**

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_BANG_. My eyes fly open and I shoot up in bed. My heart pounds, not out of surprise due to the sound, but because _this is not my bed_. Immediately I scramble to cover my now chilled, naked body.

"You idiot! What the fuck were you even thinking?"

I hear yelling.

"I don't know! I was drunk, okay? I _wasn't_ thinking! I didn't fucking mean to do this."

No one is in the room. I assume everyone (whoever "everyone" is… though I have an idea, and it's giving me a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach) is in the hallway. I get up quickly and put on my undergarments. I have to search for my jeans. They are under the bed. I tug them on, wincing when it hurts so badly _down there_. Slowly, I slip my top on. I cannot help but shudder at some sort of invisible scum that is crawling across my skin. I smooth my hair as best I am able, but I daren't look in the mirror. I am afraid, for some reason, of what I will see.

What _would_ I see?

The voices have turned to a low murmur. Even pressed against the door, I cannot hear them. Slowly, I turn the knob. The door opens with a creak and all speech ceases. Naruto and Kiba are standing outside, wide-eyed and staring at me with open horror. Naruto has a black eye.

"Hinata—" Naruto's unusually hesitant voice is cut harshly off by Kiba.

"Stop. Just fucking stop." The brunette hurries over to me and places a firm hand on my shoulder. "Sakura and Tenten are coming to pick you up soon, okay? Do you need anything? Asprin, some water, coffee, food…?" His voice is full of concern, and I glance at Naruto once more.

He is staring at the floor, shame-faced.

Now that it has been brought to my attention, my head feels as though it has had a run-in with a wrecking ball. A wave of nausea rises in me, but I force it back.

"What… What is going on?" I ask in my firmest voice. But I already know the answer. But, no, I could be wrong! But… really, what's the likelihood that I'm wrong…? Still—

"This asshole—" Kiba begins angrily, but he is shoved aside by Naruto.

"We slept together last night." He murmured. "I'm so sorry—"

"You idiot! 'Sorry' means _nothing _to Hinata! You _know_ how she felt about you! You're stupid, but I _know_ you know!"

I can't say anything. Anything I might attempt to say… it wouldn't come out, anyway… I knew, but hearing it is just… But I suppose it couldn't have hurt any less.

Kiba shakes his head in blatant disgust. "I think you deserve to know that… this _idiot_ was too drunk to even use a condom."

My mouth… is dry and sticky. My whole body is suddenly covered in sweat, and even though my eyes are wide open, I see black. I think… am I blacking out?

"Hinata!"

Oh… How nice…

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The babbling of a brook is peaceful. The bubbles all come to the top, and the sediment is on the bottom. I am in the darkness. It is soft and warm and safe. The murmuring stream I hear… The sounds are separating somewhat. They become more distinct. I feel a pulling sensation. It pulls me out of the warm and into the cold. I am suddenly anxious. The babbling brook has suddenly become individual voices mingling together.

Ah... I was sleeping, wasn't I?

Suddenly I am winded, and my heart drops out through my feet. I remember now. I passed out, didn't I? Kiba said…

Is this what they call that "punched in the gut" feeling?

"Hinata? Are you okay?"

I force my eyelids open. They seemed to have been crusted shut. Sakura leans over me, her pretty pink hair hanging in her face like a curtain of silk. She is blocking the sunlight from the open window, yet it embraces her, and I think she looks beautiful. So holy, so pure.

My mouth is coated in thick, pasty slime. I open it, then close it, searching for moisture. My throat feels like a fissure in a stone—tight, hard and dry.

"Here." Sakura sits me up and pushes a glass of water in my face. I drink it greedily. "You passed out." She tells me matter-of-factly. "But you didn't hit your head, so you'll be okay. Tenten, can you hand me those pills?"

"Sure!" A perky voice from outside my line of vision replies, but now I see her. Her eyes are brown, but they are too bright for me, and I cannot look at them.

Sakura gives me the pills, which I down with more water. Then I see Kiba strolling up behind the girls. Tenten turns around with a small gasp.

"Oh, Kiba…" she says, almost mournfully.

He grunts in reply. He isn't looking at anyone. I want to ask. My chest hurts. I'm nauseous. I want to ask. Kiba glances at me, and it's only now that I realize how hard I've been staring at him. I blush awkwardly and look away.

"I tried to make him leave," He mutters. "but he insisted on staying… I couldn't kick him out because the girls arrived, and I didn't want them seeing anything too unsightly…" when Kiba notices my eyes wandering, he adds, "He's in the kitchen."

I try to roll over onto my side, but both Tenten and Sakura stop me.

"You can't, Hinata."

"Yeah, you should really continue to rest."

"Do you want me to contact Neji?" Tenten asks in concern.

I gasp. "No. Not Neji."

Sakura pursed her lips. "He already knows. I've been keeping him up to date because he's worried about you… since you didn't come home last night and all…"

I get up quickly and push them out of the way. My chest hurts so badly I feel as though I am truly, physically dying. My heart feels as though it has been ripped out of my chest, and it is now being squeezed and poked and jabbed and torn by some unseen force. I try to concentrate on making my legs stop their shaking. Slowly, slowly, I make my way out of the bedroom. I grip the rail of the stairway with cold, damp fingers and take one step at a time—down, down. I feel dizzy. But I continue.

Rounding the corner at the bottom, my bare feet pad quietly across the tile floor of the kitchen. Naruto is there, leaning against the counter with a steaming mug of coffee in his hands. He doesn't look up as I come in. My lips tremble slightly, and I realize I am not breathing.

Was I going to say something?

I make my way to the counter, on the pretense of pouring myself some coffee. They say black coffee is good for a hangover. I see him glance at me as I open a cabinet in search of a mug. I don't look at him, but I watch him closely out of the corner of my eye. Closing the cabinet, I walk over to the coffee machine. Naruto is in front of it.

"Excuse me." I mutter. I still don't look at him.

He moves aside silently and I pour my coffee. I take a sip, cringing slightly as it burns my tongue. When I turn to go to the refrigerator for cream, Naruto puts a hand on my shoulder.

"Hinata…" he starts

His voice is sad. I hate his eyes when his voice is sad. I shrug his hand off and open the refrigerator.

"If I could fix this… you know I would." He says mournfully. The cream sloshes in with my coffee and I return it to the cold. "You're one of my best friends… There are so many things that I just can't talk to Sakura, and even Sasuke about! So I talk to you. The last thing I wanted was to ruin our friendship."

"Hey…" I swallow the lump in my throat. "Kiba's right… I mean… I clear my throat, willing my voice to be louder and stronger. "You know that… I—I love you. I knew you didn't love me. I could handle that, Naruto!" I take a deep breath, trying to calm my rising anger. "I could handle that… But this—this is… I just… I can't."

"I know." He shocks me by embracing me. "I never wanted to hurt you." He whispers.

"Is it true?" I push him away to look at him. "De we… Was there really no protection?" I dread the answer, even though, once again, I already know.

He closes his eyes. "No… It's my fault… Completely… I was too drunk to think about it."

No shock registers in me. No horror. No… anything. I feel nothing.

"Hinata?" Naruto's frightened voice calls my name. His voice is… far away. I am somewhere else.

Oh… I'm sitting down. I wonder when that happened.

"Are you okay?"

… I suppose I should answer him. "Hn." Is all that comes out. So I try again, forcing my lips to move and my diaphragm to function normally. "I'm okay."

I know that I am not, and so does he.

"Look," he says hesitantly. "We're in college right now, right? If I continue the path I'm on, I'll get a really good job in PR… people are really gunning for bloggers nowadays, right? So, um, if anything happens, like… ya know… you don't have to worry about anything, okay? Because I'm already being paid to be a coach, too!" he grins happily, but the light of his smile doesn't reach his murky salt water eyes.

I nod slowly, but…

If that happened, that would be the end of me.

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**Gawd this chapter bored the hell outta me. I can't wait until I'm done with this fic. Plus, I'm making it seem like my writing sucks. I dunno if I'm gonna be experimenting with 1st person stream-of-consciousness again... Oh well**

**I expect reviews! I'll post the next chapter as soon as I can, guys! Like I said, I'll be a bit loopy, starting Wednesday, probably until Saturday. But PLEASE review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**_Disclaimer is in Chapter 1_**

**Okay! So I'm a lot less loopy than I though I'd be! In case you didn't know, I got my wisdom teeth extracted yesterday. I'm in a bit of pain right now, and I do get pretty loopy feeling on and off, but I was able to do this much :) My left cheek is really swollen! DX I look a lot worse than I feel, and it kind of sucks.**

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_I'm Not A Princess: _I hope you like this chapter okay! It's super short, but hopefully I can update again soon... Maybe like, this weekend or something. It just depends :P

_Zatheko: _I don't know if I really understand your question... Like, are you looking for a NaruSaku fic? I can tell you this isn't that... But Sakura is somewhat important... she isn't even in this chapter, but after this chapter she's focused on a lot more. And if the reviewers want me to do a sequel (for purposes of happiness, fluff, and a feeling of closure from the tragedy) she will show up plenty and probably be one of the main characters. :) At least this is what I'm hoping.

**Enjoy!**

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It's positive. Somewhere outside of my mind I hear the _click—click clickclick _as the white stick in my hand falls to the tiled bathroom floor. I see darkness closing around me. I open my eyes wider and grip the sink to stabilize myself, but... I can't… I…

I feel like it has been seconds. I know I am lying on the floor. My head hurts, but I think I am okay. Slowly, I open my eyes. Slowly, I sit up.

It's still there, lying on the floor.

_It's _still there.

I feel a scream rising from my very core, and I claw and grab at my skin and my hair and my arms as though I could physically contain it. I _must_, especially since—

"Hinata?"

Especially since my father is at home.

"Are you okay in there?"

If it were just Neji—I'm not sure about Hanabi, she's too much of a daddy's girl—I probably would have just lost it. But I cannot. I must be strong for Father.

"I heard a loud noise. You didn't fall, did you?" He is concerned about _me—_his eldest daughter, but his least favorite child. How sweet. He even loves his nephew more than me. But I cannot blame Neji for that…

"No, Father!" I call out of the bathroom. "I'm fine."

"Good." He says, sounding satisfied.

I sigh, brushing my fingers through my long hair. I hear Father's footsteps echoing farther down the hall, and I check my facial expression to make sure that none of the servants will have an excuse to ask any questions. I step out of the bathroom, and since the servants take care of the trash, I have no fear that Father will find _that_ in there. I am headed for my room, and even though I should not be worried, I try to be quiet as I walk down the hall. I round the corner into my room and a gasp pushes through my lungs when I nearly fall over my cousin on the threshold.

"Hinata." His voice is low and condescending.

"Neji…" I try to get past him, but he is blocking my way. Panic slowly bubbles up inside of me.

"What happened, Hinata?" his voice has become softer. He almost appears concerned.

But I cannot tell. I _cannot _tell. So I smile.

"Nothing. What do you mean?"

We go into my room. I sit on the edge of my bed and Neji tosses a fuzzy pillow off of a beanbag chair so that he may sit on that.

"Talk. I know what you've done with Naruto. I'm not going to judge, but you've been different ever since… Understandably, I suppose. You look especially pale, right now, as well."

I don't know if I should tell him… Honestly, I don't know if he should be trusted.

"Um…" I start. "I… don't know if I feel comfortable telling you…"

Neji looks away from me. Maybe he is hurt? Strangely, though, I cannot bring myself to care.

"I'm worried about you… Sakura and Tenten are worried as well. Even Ino has noticed something. Kiba is freaking out, and… Naruto has been giving himself a good beating. He feels awful about this. You have to know that there are people who care deeply for you... Hinata, Kiba is in love with you. Please realize this."

"I _know_, Neji!" I scream. This is not what I want to hear right now. It's not what I need to hear. Would they care for me if they knew? Naruto said he would support me, but… Really, if only he understood! I almost laugh. None of them really understand the situation I'm in. I gently place my hand on Neji's shoulder. I know he means well. "You'll know everything soon… But for now, please just leave. I need some time alone."

I sigh, closing my eyes. I remain on my bed when I hear the door shut. I do not move, and I feel as though it would almost be an effort to open my eyes.

There is a child inside of me. There is another living human being inside of my body. I cannot stop thinking this, because I cannot have this child. It is impossible. It would dishonor my family. It would dishonor me, as the first born and heir to my clan. It would remove me from the position of heir to my clan. It would dishonor my father, having raised me without the influence of a mother. Where, then, would that leave little Hanabi? She was no longer so little anymore. Would they taunt her, calling her "whore"? Would they try to solicit sex from her? She might never be able to marry because of me, let alone lead the clan with honor and pride. _And then…_

Naruto.

I open my eyes and slide off of my bed. I grab a pen and paper, and sit down at my desk. I know what I must do.

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**Hmm. I have nothing to say about this chapter. And I want to go and ice my face. So. Review please! Thank you! :D**


	4. Chapter 4

_**Disclaimer is in Chapter 1**_

**I guess I've irritated some people due to the filter I've put the characters on. Oh well. No matter what I change it to (I've changed the filter 3 times now) I still get very personally insulting comments. But I will continue to delete those.**

**xxxx**

_I'm Not A Princess: _Ahahaah I wonder if you would be in favor of this sequel... Wait until the end, and then tell me haha XD

_MyKyo: _Because then the story wouldn't be _my_ story, and that would kind of defeat the purpose. Besides, I thought I made it clear when Hinata was going on and on about how it was her child inside of her, another living being, etc etc... She's having an inner conflict with her duties and her motherly instincts, and her instincts as a human being basically. Not that I'm taking sides at all on any life v choice issues or anything. But in the next chapter it will explain more in depth why she chose to kill herself.

_just a reviewer: _There can be more than one main character. Although this is not a NaruSaku. But. Sakura is basically gonna get her life flipped turned upside down (cue fresh prince of bel aire) -ahem- but no really. At the very end of this fic, if anyone needs some serious fucking help, it's her. And why did this all start? Because of Naruto's drunk sperm, of course! And he does come in later to try and fix everything. But does it work? dun dun dun! (I love how no one ever asks about Neji XD)

_the (most likely a Guest): _I DELETED THIS REVIEW RESPONSE CUZ IT WAS RUDE AND I FEEL BAD ABUT IT. :/

_groomer_: If Hinata sucks then why the fuck are you reading this? GTFO.

**If you're here for pairings and love and NaruSaku, you can leave now. Cuz really, there's very little, if any romance in this fic.**

**If you're here to read a decent fic just for the helluvit, enjoy!**

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A shrill scream awoke all those residing at the Hyuga compound. Bare feet pounded loudly against the wooden floor.

"What is it, Hanabi?" Neji gasped out.

Hiashi followed close behind. "Hanabi?"

But the girl was silent, staring out into something beyond the two men.

"What is it, Hanabi?" Neji pressed. Flashbacks of Hinata's face came and went. This urgent, terrifying feeling was becoming too much.

But the girl slowly shook her head. She slid down the wall and onto the floor with a _plop_.

"Was there something in the bathroom?" Hiashi asked.

Neji glanced nervously toward the bathroom. The light was on, and the door was barely ajar. He feared the worst. Hiashi made as if to open the door, but Hanabi suddenly sprang to life.

"NO!" she shrieked. "Don't go in there!"

Hiashi's expression changed quickly from shock at his daughter's outburst to annoyance. "Well, why not?"

Tears ran down Hanabi's face. "No… Don't go in… Don't look…" she muttered.

Neji knelt down and held her to him, nodding at Hiashi. 'Go on,' he mouthed. He was being a coward. He knew this. But something was telling him exactly what Hiashi would find inside the bathroom, and Neji wasn't strong enough to see it. In any case, he had to take care of Hanabi, because she _had_ seen…

Hiashi's features took on qualities of someone attempting to scream. He stumbled backward, and his knees gave way under him. His mouth moved very quickly but no sound was coming out.

"Wh-what is it?" Neji asked, feeling bewildered, even though his mind already knew exactly what was going on.

Hiashi didn't respond.

Neji gently let go of Hanabi, and he peered anxiously around the side of the doorway. White pills littered the damp tile floor. There was a broken bottle of—was it vodka?—around the perimeter of the bathroom. The curtains of the tub were pulled back just enough to reveal a stark, white body, painted red with the fluids in the water. The arms were absolutely torn to pieces, and the lips were blue. The face looked to be twisted somewhere between an expression of pleasure and agony.

Numbly, Neji stood up and went to his room. Somewhere, in the far reaches of his mind, he noted that there was an envelope on his bed. But he ignored it, and went to sleep.

* * *

There had to be an autopsy done. Even though everyone _knew _that it had been a suicide, it was still the unnatural death of the heir of a Noble clan. Procedures, procedures. Hiashi hadn't opposed it, but he didn't like it, either. Neji actually had opposed it. He'd asked if there was any other way. When they'd told him no, he requested one of Tsunade's doctors to perform the autopsy. He knew that they wouldn't release any information to the public.

The three surviving, close relatives to Hinata Hyuga were called in the very next day. It was suggested that Neji and Hanabi wait outside in the waiting room, but Hiashi deemed that unacceptable. They had every right to know all the details about Hinata's autopsy, straight from the horse's mouth.

According to Shizune, a trusted doctor who dabbled in many fields of medicine and had been personally trained by Tsunade, was present herself to give the report. Apparently, a fetus had been found in Hinata's womb. Neji reeled with shocked. Of course this was something he had thought of, but… _Why hadn't she gone to Naruto? I don't really like him… But he would have done his damnest to take care of her and that kid! What in the hell—_

It suddenly struck him that he had never opened that enveloped on his bed. Maybe it was from her… It was unlikely, but shouldn't he at least check?

He, Hiashi and Hanabi all knew Hinata's death was a suicide. Shizune hadn't shed any light on that. She hadn't shed any light on how she killed herself, either. She didn't have to, in that respect, as they could all well imagine _how_ she did it. But they all went home that day with a heavy feeling pressing down on their chests—the feeling of someone else having died as well—that this was, in actuality, a murder-suicide.

At home again, Neji silently dragged himself up those big wooden stairs. He didn't look at that bathroom. The envelope had been on his dresser for the past few days. He took it gingerly in his pale hands, and looked at the writing scrawled across it: _Neji Huga_

A feeling he couldn't quite understand—a mixture of excitement and sadness—was bubbling up within him. He slid his thumb between the pieces of paper to separate them, and he pulled out two folded pieces of notebook paper.

One taped up, with a name written over it: _Naruto Uzumaki_

* * *

The funeral was a closed casket. Everyone was wearing black. Neji had to keep himself from giving people displeased looks as they passed by. _Hinata wouldn't have wanted all of this… sorrow, all of this black and grief and…_

"Hey." Neji jumped at hearing a voice suddenly very close to his ear.

"Sakura." He growled. "Don't startle me like that." He sat up a bit straighter in his chair and fidgeted with his tie—he'd been itching to take it off all day.

Sakura sat down across from him. They had had a viewing, and a funeral, and now the clan was treating everyone to lunch and drinks. It was somewhat like a reception at this point, although it had the same atmosphere as the viewing.

"So…" The pinkette began. Neji glanced uninterestedly at her. "Naruto is not here…"

He raised one of his eyebrows in disbelief. "You really think that idiot would come to this? I hear Kiba is out to get him."

"What?"

"Yep." Neji looked at her full on then, clasping his long fingers together in front of him. She had on a very troubled expression, twirling her long pink hair between her small white fingers. He didn't like how little light there was in her green eyes. Neji sighed, defeated. "Look." He said. "As long as Naruto stays out of Kiba's way, I'm sure this will all just blow over. But he has to be careful, because I think Kiba is really serious."

They sat together in an uncomfortable, yet companionable silence for a short while. Neji stuffed his hands into the pockets of his long, black dress jacket—_Oh! What do we have here?_ Neji's fingers curled around the letters Hinata had given to him. _Ahh. Yes._

The brunette stood. "I am going to go and get us some drinks. Anything in particular that you want?"

"Oh, just some water would be fine for me!" Sakura returned.

This gave Neji a bit of time to consider just how he was going to go about things. Hinata's death had been really tough on the both of them. He knew that Sakura and Hinata were both med students, and they were both good friends. Sakura was the prodigy, that was no secret, but Hinata had been _very _good.

It made him want to punch something. All of that could be taken so quickly…

"Are you alright?"

It was Sakura.

Neji could have kicked himself.

"You were bringing back our drinks, and all of a sudden you just kind of stopped… You were just standing there…" The concern in her eyes felt so warm… He wanted desperately to feel that warmth, to be wrapped safely inside it…

But those were foolish thoughts—they were the thoughts of a person who was hurting. He would defeat these demons on his own. He didn't need others. He never had needed anyone else. Neji would not be comforted by some woman, let alone by Sakura.

"Come on, let's go sit down." She smiled softly. "I know it's been hard… It's been hard on all of us."

"Did…" Neji shook his head. He didn't even know where he was going with that. He felt the heavy weight of the letters in his pocket. _I have to focus on the tasks at hand!_

"Did what, Neji?"

Neji looked away from her, almost ashamed of himself—really, he did want to know. "Have… Have you seen Tenten here tonight? Did she come?"

Sakura's response was rather unexpected, at least to Neji. He wasn't looking at her, so it was a bit of a shock when he received a flick on the head. When he looked at her to protest the abuse, he was reproached by her fierce, angry gaze.

"Of course she came, Neji. I held her during the viewing _and _the funeral while she cried. She and Hinata were dear friends. Tenten probably didn't come here to _this_, I can tell you that much. She was falling to pieces. And she certainly didn't come for _you_."

Neji sighed, sitting back down. "…Well then. I guess that's that, then."

"Ugh!" Sakura fumed. "How… Just… Ugh! You're so infuriating! You just asked about her so that you could avoid her! You asshole!"

Neji had to admit, an angry Sakura—an angry Sakura flitting around in a rage while in a filmy, swooshy, little black dress—was sort of sexy.

"While that may be true," Neji's hand dipped into his pocket. _No time like the present_. "I still have this to show you…"

Sakura stopped her mini rampage to look at the paper in Neji's hand. "What is it?" She asked, all curiosity now.

"Here, sit down." He gestured to the chair she'd been previously sitting in.

Sakura sat down elegantly enough and crossed her legs. She leaned over the table conspiratorially and said, "Okay, lemme see it." Her eyes glowed brightly with excitement.

Forcing his eyes upward—not anywhere near where Sakura's cleavage may or may not have been spilling out onto the table—Neji tossed the letter to her.

"Here is the first one… You could say it's basically her suicide note."

* * *

**As I said, I will continue to delete the rude reviews posted here, because guess what? No fucks given. You can't hurt me with words (half the time misspelled) on a screen.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Okay. So here's the next chapter. Take it or leave it. Another, probably the last, chapter will come out soon enough.**

**xxxx**

_the_: Geh. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been like that. That was really immature of me. But I couldn't tell you were joking! Dx I'm really sorry! I deleted my reply to your comment cuz it was really mean.

_THE 7TH DEMON OF RAZGRIZ_: Haha I just deleted like a bunch of reviews... So it's whatever. I'm calmed down now, because you know what? NO FUCKS GIVEN. :D I just really wish I could report those anonymous reviews that call me names and really trash me as a person. But, they are _anonymous!_

_manduderaw: _Yeah, I'm sorry to disappoint you but this fic is not a NaruSaku romance. Sorry for the confusion.

_Just a_ _Reviewer: _Meep o.o I didn't mean to direct my irritation at you, at all. I thought my response to your review was nice, and I though I even joked around a bit. Of course it's normal to want to know what is going to come next, I just didn't want to give you too much, ya know? I'm really sorry that you thought I meant _your_ review was rude. The way that I wrote my initial author's note was misleading. I changed it so that it's not nearly as misleading, nor as aggressive. Also, I was not referring to the site regulations of the character filtering. I was referring to literature in general: in any literature or movie or play there can be any number of main characters. I personally would never let the site regulations limit me because of the character filters. I simply picked the characters I felt were most pertinent to the story. Although, I got hell for that, and I also got hell for filtering it Hinata only. So, I eliminated the Naruto filter and posted it as Hinata, Sakura and Neji. I suppose Naruto doesn't have to be such a big character. (And yet... I am still being called a "fucked up fuck up".)I do appreciate the feedback you gave me though. I realize that there is some mis-characterization. Hinata is a big example of this, but she's supposed to be a bit out of character. And Neji, when he was perving at the end of the chapter, I felt like that would just be normal. Like, I have this headcanon that even if it's Neji, he's still gets distracted slightly by sexy things. So I guess that's just me. For your examples, the 1st one: I sort of skipped over the funeral, and everyone was just sort of... hanging out, comforting the friends and family, etc. I will have to go back and make Sakura more... sad, I think, but I don't want her to just go balling her eyes out and moping all over the place or anything. 2nd example: Since this is from Neji's point of view, I just didn't have Kiba appear in the chapter because Neji didn't see or talk to him. I didn't write this with the intention that people will think Kiba is actively out hunting Naruto. I just meant that Naruto should really stay away from Kiba, because he's really pissed slash upset, or something like that. It's assumed that Kiba was there. I'll go back and make these points more clear, as I can see where you'd get that idea. 3rd example: Well, I have perfectly normal conversations with family members at funerals. There's even laughter, sometimes. I mean, for me it's more of a surreal thing, like I'm talking to people at a funeral and then there are certain times that it just really hits me, I'm at the funeral of Person A. And then I'm fine again. It's weird. I'll go back and see if I can do anything about the mood. I'm taking your comments into account as far as this here chapter goes, too. So hopefully you see more of a somber, etc tone than the last chapter.

If I didn't answer everything, please let me know.

_snicker_: I've switched to 3 different filters and the hate is still comin'. Now I have it explained in the 1st chapter about the 4 character thing, and I explain who all of my main characters are... Basically I have it set up now so that you have to be illiterate to bitch at me for something, because now, in chapter 1, I tell everyone what's coming.

_Ignorant reviewe__: _I removed both of your comments, because I don't really approve of you doing things like calling other viewers morons and little fucks and other various names. Even though I sort of flipped out last chapter, I think you're the immature one here.

_Fan Fan 92555_: I spammed your comment.

_Groomer_: I PM'd you. I just think it's interesting that you got an account today after I deleted your two horrid reviews. Now I can't delete your reviews anymore. I'm so sad...

_Guest: _I'm posting this right now. Hopefully you'll look again at this today. :)

**xxxx**

**Geez. I hope this chapter isn't too confusing. I guess one of you will say something if it is, huh?**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Sakura gently held the paper in her hands as though it would crumble to pieces any second. Slowly, she brought her hand to her mouth as her eyes flowed along the words of the page. Her lips trembled slightly, now and again forming the words that her eyes glossed over. Suddenly her eyes widened in shock.

"Neji!" she cried, jumping up from her chair. The brunette wanted to shrink down into his.

"Sakura, calm down!" he hissed angrily, grabbing her arm and yanking her back into her seat.

"But—!"

"I know it comes as a sho—"

"It's not just a shock! It's unbelievable!" Sakura whispered.

Neji rubbed his forehead wearily. "Look, just make sure no one else finds out."

Sakura appeared to think for a moment, but then, at length, she nodded.

The brunette sighed heavily. "Come on. We can talk about this somewhere else."

Sakura looked up at him as he stood, making a small noise of surprise, perhaps protest.

"People are starting to leave." He gestured around himself at the people who stood from their small tables, and the people getting their coats from the hodgepodge on the racks. Hiashi somberly passed by with a nod, and Hanabi at his heels. Her eyes looked so empty.

"Hey…" Neji started. "Have you seen Kiba?"

"He left a while ago with his older sister… Why?"

"Ah, nothing. I was just wondering." If Naruto was trying to steer clear of Kiba, he wondered how serious Kiba really was. Naruto was the kind of guy to hit any situation head on, no matter how foolish it was. Perhaps he should be just a bit more worried…

"Well, anyway, let's go to The Heavenly Cup…" Neji suggested. "You know where that is, out by—"

"Yeah, I know where it is."

"I'll meet you there." Neji said, and as an afterthough, he said, "I'll pay." He sighed again, tugging on a couple strands of loose hair.

The pull was strong, but he was able to leave the building without looking back.

* * *

Neji sat down next to Sakura on the deep, worn leather couch in the coffee shop. He put their coffees in front of them on the low wooden table before them, and then he shimmied out of his stiff black jacket. Sakura simply sat there silently, holding her head in her hands. Neji sighed, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees. He didn't know what to say.

But really, there was nothing _to_ say.

Sakura finally sat up and took her coffee. She sipped the hot drink carefully. Her eyes were pink-ish again, like they had been during the funeral.

"She really—" Sakura began, but she stopped as though she were choking on something. Neji couldn't really look at her. He didn't know what to do. "She really…" he heard a quiet little sniffle. "didn't think she had any other choice…?"

Neji sighed again. He had been doing that a lot lately, hadn't he? He leaned back, and the couch sucked him in comfortingly. He closed his eyes and crossed his legs, getting a bit more comfortable.

"Well…" Neji began, trying to think of the best way to put this. "This is Hinata we're talking about. She couldn't fathom killing her own child, right? Even though she could have talked about it to someone… Even though she was in med school…"

"Just stop… Neji, stop!" Sakura sobbed. Her body was so very small like that, doubled over and shaking lightly—so very fragile.

Neji sipped at his coffee. Seconds, and then minutes passed. Finally, Neji reached out, and began soothingly rubbing Sakura's back. No words were spoken.

_Why aren't I crying?_ It seemed strange to him. Maybe it was all just too… _surreal. _Yes. That was it. None of this really seemed like it was happening. He would come home and go up to his room, and Hinata would peek in then and ask if he'd been out on a date. Then she'd sit down on his bed (without his permission) and she would gently pry into his feelings about his breakup with Tenten.

And everything would be normal.

He hardly realized when tears had begun to spill from his pale, lavender eyes. Gasping, he hurriedly scrubbed his face of the evidence and flashed a look to Sakura, just to see if she'd noticed. But no, she was still hunched over, but the tears had stopped. She simply sat, staring blankly into her coffee.

"Neji." She said suddenly, breaking the heavy silence that had fallen between them. "I can't understand it. Is this thing… your clan… Is this really so…"

"Ah…" his voice trembled slightly when he spoke. "You're talking about her duties to the clan. You see, I already knew everything that was contained in that letter. She was the heir to her clan… the shame that she would suffer would not only fall on her, but also on the rest of the clan. She could never head the clan. The elders would never let her. Her father would fall into shame because Hiashi's wife died when Hanabi was born. He raised both girls, for all intents and purposes, on his own, and this would be proof that the elders were right: a single parent cannot efficiently raise a good, obedient child—especially not one worthy of being the clan head."

Sakura scowled. "Tch…"

"What is it?" Neji wanted to brush her cherry hair away from her face to get a better look at her expression. "Are you angry about something? You shouldn't be angry about her duty to—"

"Yes, to the clan! I know!" Sakura bit out, her eyes ablaze. "But she should have… Why didn't she run away? She didn't have to care about any of that…"

"Where would she go?" the brunette asked softly. "What would she do?"

"It's just not fair!"

Neji sighed. Again. _Life's not fair. _He sipped the now lukewarm coffee and thought about it. _Life is not fair… But… did it really have to pass this way? _When he spoke, it seemed to him almost as though he were speaking to himself.

"Sakura… There's no use in thinking of things that might have been." Neji shrugged. "I mean, she was never thinking of herself… She was thinking of me, and of Hanabi and her father… She really saw death as the only way out. She couldn't let herself burden Naruto because she would want to move to another city. She wouldn't be able to bare the shame of staying here. And—"

"Shut up!" Sakura yelled. The coffee shop grew quiet, and Sakura's cheeks were stained pink with embarrassment.

Neji took a deep breath and continued softly, almost gently. "Hinata knew that Naruto didn't love her. She didn't want him to sacrifice the life that he was creating for himself, just for her. That's the kind of person she was. Do you understand?"

"I…" Tears were welling up in Sakura's eyes. "I understand, but…" Silent sobs racked her body.

Neji continued speaking as though the woman next to him wasn't crying at all. What else should he do, comfort her? He could never get that sort of thing right, just couldn't do or say the right things.

"I have another paper here… It's for Naruto. I figured you could give it to him."

Sakura looked up at Neji. Because her eyes were damp with tears, Neji had the absurd idea that her eyes somehow looked like deep, green lagoons. _How stupid._

Sakura took the paper and put it in the tiny black purse that she carried with her. Offering a feeble smile, she said, "I was going to go to Naruto's place after the funeral today, anyway."

Neji nodded. He threw both of their empty paper cups away. They were done there, and had no more to say to each other.

"Well, I'll see you around the campus." Sakura smiled again, but this time it was a bit brighter. He felt a shallow warmth from that smile that he had seemed to be lacking that day.

"Yeah." He nodded, but did not smile. His mouth was set in a grim line as he put his thick, black dress coat over Sakura's pale, bare shoulders. When she gave him a confused look, he nodded to the door.

It had started to rain.

* * *

**I was gonna incorporate the letter Hinata wrote into this chapter, but it just... didn't happen. So instead, Neji and Sakura discuss what the letter contained.**

**Review are appreciated.**


	6. Chapter 6

**The last chapter. God I am so done with this fic. It started as a fun little angst ridden project for me to do (as in I'm doing it cuz I want to, not cuz I want to please people) but then I got so much shit cuz I killed off Hinata AND there is no yuri. Tough shit, right? Let me kill some more characters for you, just because I can :D Hate me. Give me troll reviews. Go ahead. You're inadvertently giving me attention :D**

**xxxx**

_I'm Not A Princess_: Here's the letter, as requested! Hope it's up to your expectations haha :P

_hyugahinata247_: Aww, thank you so much! That means a lot :) I really like Hinata, too.

_snee_: Well, I could, but Hinata is still, like... -sigh- she's one of those characters that's dead, but with her death she impacts those around her _so_ much it's impossible for me _not_ to make her a main character. If she were a minor character, than she wouldn't be the catalyst of this series of events that is to follow in this chapter... which I hope is the last chapter ._.

_Derpydoo_: Ahh. I've found a sane person... Thank you... Your review actually kind of restored my faith in the general mass of reviewers... Speaking generally, of course. But luckily, I can moderate the really rude or inappropriate guest reviews.

_reptar_: GTFO. The filter isn't for filtering out what pairing you what, only what characters you want. And if I'm trolling, why'd you read all through chapter 5 just to insult my fic? No. Denied.

_Guest_: Fuck that. I'm not updating just because you tell me to. _Especially _when you insult me, while telling me to "update my shit". Fuck that. I have a life off of the computer, believe it or not. And this is just a side project for me. I don't want to fucking bother with it anymore because of people like you, but because I'm stubborn as hell, and because of the sweethearts like the first three reviewers here, I'm gonna bother with it. And I'll take my sweet ass time doing it, too. Btw, I don't know how many times I have to say this, but I AM NOT TROLLING. Learn how the damn filters work.

**xxxx**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

The biting wind whipped Sakura's hair around her face. She shivered. Thankfully, it had stopped raining on her way home. After fumbling with her keys for a moment, she quickly hurried inside and shut the door against the chill. She then tossed the keys into a small clay bowl nearby, and proceeded to shed her coat—_Oh. _

She blushed, almost dropping the stiff, black dress jacket. It was Neji's. She'd nearly forgotten.

_I'll have to return it…_

Sakura had told him that she'd be going to Naruto's house that day. She scoffed as she shook off her shoes on the way to her small kitchen. So she'd lied. What of it? It was a little, white lie. No big deal. She'd go tomorrow and give Naruto his letter. Then, she'd show him Hinata's… suicide note.

Sighing deeply, Sakura popped the cap off of a bottle of beer and nested in her plush, velveteen couch. Tears wetted her eyes once more, but she didn't understand why. She couldn't feel anything at the moment, not even sadness. Sakura felt silly, in fact, for balling her eyes out there in the coffee shop, in front of _Neji _of all people. Neji was an emotionless brainiac. Crying in front of a person like him was like inviting Reason to argue with Emotion. She had been so tormented at that time by the thought of Hinata, in a tub overflowing with water and blood and excrement, filling her mouth and lungs and her open eyes and nasal passages…

… But now, there was simply… nothing. A numbness had enveloped Sakura at some point towards the end of her conversation with Neji, and it had seemed to distance her from everything.

Maybe, tomorrow, she would go to class and sit next to Hinata in her first period just like always. They'd discuss that morning's lecture at lunch, like always. Sakura would make fun of the fat, balding old professor and his shrill, shrieking voice—with a lisp, no less—while Hinata tried her best not to laugh. Just like always.

Silently, as though she were doing something secret, something entirely _wrong_, Sakura reached into her purse and pulled out the note. Her eyes scanned it slowly, reading it several times over.

_"Neji,_

_Hello. It's me, Hinata. You probably already know what happened. If you're reading this, then hopefully, I was successful. Oh, I hope I was, it would be mortifying if it wasn't… I'm sorry. That's insensitive of me, isn't it? But listen to me. I feel close to you. I trust you. Right now, I feel that I am perfectly sane, so do not let anyone tell you otherwise. Please don't hate me. Just listen to me… I did this, not out of selfishness, but out of love and duty for those around me. I'm pregnant, Neji. They will do an autopsy due to my choice of death, and you and Father and Hanabi will find this out. The child belongs to Naruto… It's not that I didn't think I could tell him. I know that he doesn't love me, but he is a good man and would take responsibility. But the child could not grow up in a community where it is supposedly the child of nobility, yet it is a bastard child. I say that, first of all. The child would live in misery, and probably by default be disowned by the Hyuga clan. If I would not get an abortion, I would also be refused the position as heir to my clan. I know your opinion on kids, Neji. I, on the other hand, like them a lot, but things change drastically when one is inside of you. I suppose being a man, you wouldn't understand this. But it is living, and a tiny heart is beating, and it is growing at such a miraculous rate, and… I couldn't do it. As I said, I wouldn't be accepted as head of the clan with a child out of wedlock. The duty would then fall to Hanabi, but so would the shame. She would be ridiculed, called a harlot, be made fun of for having a whore sister and a bastard niece or nephew. The shame would also fall on my father. It would prove to the elders that he "hasn't been taking good enough care of us" and in the end, we really did need a mother in our lives. Just Father, as a single parent, was not enough, and he would be shamed. Then, of course, the elders would take advantage of this new weakness, and then begin questioning whether he is really fit to be at the head of clan. I need not even mention that the clan name itself would also be tarnished. But I cannot give this baby up. It terrifies me, but I feel like I am doing a good thing right now. I know that this will cause another scandal, but it is easier to cover up or explain away a suicide than it is an accidental pregnancy. And besides… even if I were to go to Naruto… To live out the rest of my days with someone who doesn't love me? It would be like torture. Not only that, but because Naruto is Naruto, he wouldn't cheat on me. So I would be stealing every opportunity away that he could have to genuinely fall in love. In effect, I would be stealing his happiness. I can't do something like that to him… Perhaps I am simply weak? Should I be doing this?... No. It is too late to have second thoughts. I have already reasoned with myself, and this is what I must do. Please tell my father not to be angry, and tell Hanabi not to be sad… Lastly, please give this note to Naruto. Please do not open it. You may show this to others that you trust after I have been properly encased, to put it delicately._

_My Greatest Apologies and Sincerest Love,_

_Hinata"_

Sakura let the note fall onto the floor. She lifted her dress above her head and took off her bra, tossing those onto the floor as well. She had to strain to reach it, but at last she was able to recover a soft knit blanket, which she wrapped tightly around herself. Chugging some more beer down, Sakura drew her knees up to her chest and listened to the loud, doleful sounds of the wind against the walls of her duplex.

The wind was mourning, because Sakura could not.

* * *

The pinkette squinted into the bright sunlight as she stepped outside of the building. She shifted her heavy book bag into a slightly more comfortable position on her back, and began to ponder about where she should eat her lunch that day.

"Sakura!" Ino called, waving her over.

The blonde sat on the edge of a stone wall, encircling a fountain, and eating a salad from a plastic container. On her right sat Tenten, on the ground and leaning up against the stone. Conjuring a smile onto her face, Sakura hurried over to the two girls.

"Hi!" She said as she took a seat next to Ino on the stone.

Ino, instead of the perky reply that would normally be given, gave a sigh and a subdued smile in response. Tenten had not yet looked up from her sandwich, and although she wasn't the chatterbox that Ino usually was, she always had something to add to a conversation. But no such conversations existed right now.

Sakura sighed heavily before taking a bite out of her own sandwich. The absence was affecting them all.

"Hey, Sakura!"

Sakura almost threw up the little bit of sandwich that she had eaten. It was _him._ Blinking rapidly, she smiled up into his conflicted, blue eyes.

"Hi, Naruto." She replied quietly.

"Hello, girls." Today, Naruto had drug along Temari, who was studying to be a personal trainer.

Ino and Tenten said a polite hello, and Sakura nodded to the woman as she got to her feet. The two left sitting threw her questioning looks, which she ignored. Tugging on Naruto's sleeve, she walked him off to a more secluded area.

"What's up?" He questioned with some concern as they sat down upon a shaded bench.

Sakura sighed, taking another bite of her sandwich. She chewed slowly, not wanting to delve into this too quickly. But with Naruto's curious yet worried expression getting the better of her, she set her sandwich onto her lap and reached into her pocket.

"I have something to show you." Sakura murmured as she separated the opened letter and the closed envelope. "From Neji." First, Sakura handed Naruto the letter that she had already read. "It's Hinata's suicide note. You need to see it for yourself."

Sakura watched and waited as he read. She watched, from the moment he took the letter with wide eyes and shaking hands, to when his eyes watered as he scrunched it in his fists, and finally, when he tossed it aside, leaping to his feet and bolting to a trashcan as his stomach expelled whatever he'd had for lunch.

The pinkette stood and walked over to Naruto, rubbing his back in a soothing manner.

"There's one more, Naruto…"

"I don't wanna see it… I don't wanna see anything else, Sakura." He choked out, his eyes searching for some semblance of pity in those of Sakura's.

But Sakura shook her head. "This one is specifically for you." She gently shoved the envelope into his hands.

Naruto sighed, rolling his head back and letting his arms fall to his sides. Side by side, they made their way back to the bench to sit down. Naruto took the envelope in both hands, staring at the thin, slanted black lines that created the name, "Naruto Uzumaki". Taking a deep breath, he turned the envelope over and began to open it with his thumb. Tension, hanging heavily in the air, weighed down upon Sakura like she was deep under water. It was becoming hard to breathe.

Naruto was slowly slipping a folded piece of notebook paper out from the envelope. Sakura wanted to scream at him, wanted to tear it away from him and never let him touch it again. But that was a stupid thing to feel like doing. Why should she interfere here? This note was for Naruto, so Naruto was going to read it. It was that simple.

But apparently, there wasn't much on the paper. It took all of twenty seconds for Naruto to finish reading, and roughly shove it into the front pocket of his jeans.

Standing, he said tonelessly, "Come home with me today." Without waiting for an answer, he left Sakura sitting alone on the bench.

* * *

Heading for the main gates, Sakura was able to glimpse Naruto through the sea of people, pacing, pacing. He was on his cell phone, gesticulating wildly with all manner of expressions on his face. But they were mostly of the negative sort.

"… and I hate it! I have no choice but to do this!" _Do what? _Sakura wondered as she neared him. "Ugh." Naruto groaned, checking his watch. "Look… Sakura is gonna be here any minute. I gotta go, man… Yeah, I'll call you later to tell you how it goes… Mmm, bye." Sighing loudly, Naruto flipped his phone shut.

Sidling up to Naruto, Sakura asked, "Who was that?"

Naruto raised his eyebrows slightly. "Well, hello, Sakura. My day was shit, thank you for asking. How was yours?"

Sakura rolled her eyes as they began walking into the city. "Hi, Naruto."

Another sigh from the blonde. "That was Sasuke… He called me after class to see how I was getting along because… you know... It's tough having your best friend in the whole world attending a university in another country."

Sakura nodded sympathetically, but said nothing as they winded through the busy streets of Konoha. What she wanted to know was what that note for Naruto said. But she didn't ask. She wouldn't ask. She was afraid of his reaction, were she to ask.

But she would find out.

"Umm…" After a while, Sakura finally did decide to ask something—a rather pertinent question, actually. "Where are we going, Naruto?"

She had been blindly following him through the city, and she was just now realizing that they weren't getting anywhere near Naruto's apartment. Actually, they were getting further out, into the suburban area of the Leaf.

"…Where…?" Sakura started again, but Naruto scowled and shook his head.

Suddenly, Sakura recognized where they were. But she recognized too late, as Naruto had already begun trotting up the white washed steps to a nice, two story house. With each loud rap on the door, Sakura's stomach clenched tighter. When the door creaked open and Tsume stuck her head out, Sakura's stomach gave up twisting and tightening and simply fell through her feet.

"What do _you_ want?" she barked. "Kiba's not feelin' like seein' people right now. Go away!"

Naruto stuck his foot in the door to prevent Tsume from slamming it. "Just tell him I'm here. Naruto."

Finally, Sakura was able to snap out of her horrified stupor. As Tsume huffed and went inside to fetch Kiba, Sakura ran up the stairs and roughly spun Naruto around.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" she screamed at him.

Naruto gave a nonchalant shrug. "What Hinata told me to do."

Sakura made a small _o_ with her lips as sudden understanding began to dawn on her. "And… what exactly did she tell you to do?"

Naruto sighed. "Make things right with Kiba."

_Of course she would want that…_

Just then, the door opened. It opened slowly, like a shy, timid recluse was about to step out and into the world. But this was no recluse. It was Kiba, and he looked absolutely incensed. He was visibly shaking, and Sakura unconsciously stumbled backward and down all of the few, short steps from the porch. An odd grin was spreading across Kiba's feral countenance, and Sakura wished she could see Naruto's expression as well.

"To what do I owe this lovely visit, Naruto?" Kiba inquired in a saccharine voice.

"Look… I know you're pissed man, and I'm sorry, I really, really am… I had no way of knowing that something like this would happen." Naruto sighed. "Hinata wanted us to be cool again. At least, she wanted us to try for that."

Kiba stared at him for a moment, an expression of blatant disbelief on his face. Then, he started to laugh. He walked over closer to Naruto and put one hand around his shoulder. _Maybe it'll be okay…_ Sakura thought hopefully. Then Naruto's body jolted suddenly, and he doubled over.

Kiba laughed louder. "You thought it would be easy, didn't you? You thought you could just waltz on over here, apologize, and everything would be fine again." Naruto cried out in pain, falling to his knees. Then Sakura saw it: the blood. "Well, it's not fine." Naruto's body jolted again, accompanied by a hiss of pain. "You were always the optimist, huh? Well, not everything can be fixed with a fucking apology, Naruto!" The metal of the knife glinted in the sunlight as Kiba raised it again for another strike. At the sight of that, Sakura was snapped out of her state of shock, and a scream tore itself from her lungs. "I—" **Stab. **"—fucking—" **Stab. **"—loved—" **Stab. **"—her!" **Stab.**

The stairs were no longer white. They had become a garish shade of red. Naruto wasn't moving anymore. A few feet away from him, Sakura stood stock still. She couldn't tell if he was breathing or not. She would try to check when she felt it was safe. It was odd, but it was as if Kiba hadn't even seen her.

Kiba laughed again, quietly this time. "I'm sorry," he muttered. "It was going to end this way no matter what, since you did that… Since you fucked Hinata and killed her… It was going to end this way!" he snarled.

Sakura gave a violent start at what she heard next: the sound of a door creaking open.

"What is going on out—Oh my God!" Tsume had seen.

She was running to her son. But it was too late. Everything was in slow motion now, and she would never make it in time.

Kiba grinned. "Only two shots!" He exclaimed, pulling out a sleek, black revolver.

**Bang. **One.

**Bang.** Two.

The last thing that Sakura was completely aware of was Tsume, crying out in agony, as Kiba collapsed in her arms.

No tears fell. The blood reached her feet now, soaking into the concrete. It was something that went unnoticed by her as she crouched on the ground now, wrapping her arms around her knees. Her pink hair whipped around her face. Everything was pink. Sakura smiled and giggled a bit at that. She shivered. It was cold.

Sakura growled softly to herself. It was really loud. _Something _was really loud. She didn't like it, whatever it was. Suddenly, she felt herself being lifted up off the ground, and she screamed, voicing her displeasure. She wanted to stay there. She didn't want to move. There was something she had to stay for. She wasn't allowed to leave yet… Not yet…

Suddenly, terror filled her. There were voices, and she was scared because she didn't know any of them. They were poking her and hurting her and holding her down and no one was talking _to _her! Sakura wanted to say something, but nothing would come out. She was too distraught, too frightened, too embarrassed, too sad, too everything to form coherent sentences. She was being jostled about and she didn't understand the point of it. _Why is it so bright? It hurts…_

"Ahh!" Sakura cried out at the sudden stabbing pain in her arm.

And gradually, everything turned black.

* * *

**I believe one of my anon reviewers thinks that I ended like this to spite all of the reviewers that really hate this fic. Well, I was actually planning to end this way from the beginning. It ends abruptly and with confusion in Sakura's point of view, and is therefore incomplete, yes? Well, ****I'll make a sequel, so don't get pissy with me. If you want to get pissy with me because the sequel is NejiSaku, TOO BAD :D I'm just trying a new pairing for me, because I like to experiment with stuff. No telling when I'll start the sequel. I have a job and am working on other fics, not to mention I do have a life. I'm starting another side project besides this, too, so if anyone likes Hetalia:UKUS... ;D (shameless self-advertising) Anyway, thank you for all of those _kind_ reviews and _supportive _ reviews, because seriously, I considered scrapping this a couple times. But honestly, I'm happy with how this turned out, and I think this cliffy will make for an interesting first chapter in the sequel. :)**

**Please review nicely! If you have constructive criticism for me I'm willing to receive it! Since this is the end and I'm marking it complete, I'll pm you if you have an account. It's just my policy to always reply to my reviewers, even to just say thanks for reviewing :)**


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